How McDonald’s Accidentally Gave $5,000 To A Drive-Thru Customer

Josiah Vargas, a McDonald’s customer in Indiana, was accidently given $5,000 cash with his breakfast order.

By Tiffany Velasquez | Published

mcdonald's

Many people feel like they’ve hit the lottery when an extra sandwich or an extra nugget is mistakenly thrown in. Imagine pulling up to the McDonald’s Drive through and ordering a McDouble with no onions, extra pickles, and a large fry and pulling away to find you have a bag with $5,000! One customer in Indiana, Josiah Vargas, went to order breakfast but ended up with the store deposit instead.

How exactly does someone mistakenly put a heavy-duty, Ziploc bag into a McDonald’s bag alongside a Sausage McMuffin? It has to come down to carelessness, lack of proper management, and lack of organizational skills. Luckily for the restaurant and whoever made a mistake, Josiah Vargas, the customer who mistakenly received the $5,000, is an honest man and returned the money.

Vargas posted about his Mcdonald’s debacle in a now-viral TikTok Video. In the video, Vargas states how he actually wants to keep the money and asks why the restaurant would do this to him. $5000 could help a lot of people out in the current economic status of the world.

The prices of necessities, such as eggs and gas, have gone through the roof and continue to rise and fluctuate amidst the unstable economy. Even McDonald’s prices have gone up in recent times. It’s no wonder Vargas stated how he wanted to keep the money, as so many people are wading through the waters of soaring inflation and uncertainty.

When Vargas walked back into the McDonald’s restaurant, and the employees realized he had the money and was returning it, the panic subsided, and they all wanted to envelop him in hugs. The employees even referred to him as a blessing from God, which shows they realized exactly the magnitude of their mistake and the significance of his returning the money. The TikTok video only showed a small piece of his encounter inside the restaurant while returning the money.

The TikTok video continued when the man was leaving and later at home. As a reward for returning the $5,000 deposit, Vargas received a $200 reward and free McDonald’s for a month. Though Vargas seems happy with this reward and the fact that he did the right thing, McDonald’s could have done more to compensate him for his good deed.

The fast food restaurant could have done free food for life or, at the very least, something equaled the total amount of money he returned. But good people do not do good deeds for what they get in return. Good people do good deeds because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s really that simple.

Vargas did return to Mcdonald’s after they promised him free food, and twice the restaurant denied him, claiming they didn’t recognize him and he paid for his food. On his third visit to try to claim the free meals they promised him, they rectified the situation from the previous two visits by giving him a refund. First, they gave away $5,000 by accident, then made a promise to someone who they later when on to recognize; I wonder what’s next for this Golden Arches location.